Bison boys open season with win over Longhorns

Chase County girls

break away

from McCook

The McCook High School varsity boys basketball team opened the 2006-07 season Thursday night at home with a 53-26 victory over Chase County-Imperial.

The Chase County varsity girls outscored McCook 29-16 in the second half and pulled away for a 52-38 victory Thursday at the McCook High School gymnasium.

The Bison boys fell behind 6-0 in the first minute, but rallied on back on a jumper by Chance Unger, 3-pointers by Eric Rippen and Matt Berry and a layup by Cory Gaston to take a 10-8 first quarter lead.

The Bison scored the first 6 points of the second quarter and were never threatened by the Longhorns. Seth Schaeffer drained a trey, Gaston hit two free throws and Josh Cherry hit 1-of-2 charities. McCook pushed the lead to 26-14 at halftime.

The Bison won the rebound battle, especially on the offensive end where McCook enjoyed an 11-1 edge. The stat got the attention of Chase County boys basketball coach Rick Titus.

"They have some great shooters," Titus said. "We came out and scrapped with them. We just have to do a better job on the boards."

McCook coach Tim Garcia played all 14 Bison varsity members and said he each contributed.

No individual point totals were available at press time.

"Our total focus was going to be on defense," Garcia said. "That's what we needed to concentrate on and we need to build on that. I can't complain one bit.

"We used a lot of players. We want to enjoy this win tonight -- it's time to concentrate on tomorrow (the Bison play at Hastings at 7:45 p.m. tonight). We've got to be focused on what we're doing. We're pleased with the overall team victory.

"Hat's off to the seniors for buying into the program. It was a great game for us -- a great victory."

The McCook-Hastings junior varsity boys game starts at 6 p.m.

Chase County

girls 52,

McCook 38

The McCook Bison varsity girls trailed 17-10 early in the second quarter and rallied to take an 18-17 lead. Junior Kelsee Meissner scored 6 of McCook's points in the 8-0 run.

Chase County led at halftime 23-22 and pushed its lead to 37-28 at the end of the third quarter.

McCook girls coach Barry Schaeffer said he was pleased with the way his team hustled in the first game of the season.

"It was a great effort all the way around -- I was very proud of them," Schaeffer said of his players. "That was a very athletic team. We've got to do a better job in transition and be better on the boards. We'll get better.

"Austin Wilson did a great job. Jessica Harris shot the ball well. Defensively I thought Ashley Carfield, Austin Wilson, Kali Lyons and Brianna Watkins played well. Taryn Placzek and Kelsee Meissner did a great job in the post.

"Kelsee hit 6 points in a row and kept us in the game. It was a great overall team effort."

Wilson and Meissner led the Bison in scoring with 7 points each. Placzek added 6, Harris 5, Watkins 4, Ashley Palic 3, Melissa Lyster 3, Lindsey McNutt 2 and Hanah Swanhorst 1.

Kohmetscher pulled down 5 rebounds. Wilson had 4 assists and McNutt 3. Wilson had 2 steals.

Whitney Paisley paced the Longhorns with 17 points, including 9-of-11 free throws.

Celeste Pankonin scored 10, RyAnn Spady 8 and Tabitha Russell 5.

The McCook girls will host Grand Island Northwest Saturday. The junior varsity game starts at 3:15 p.m., followed by the varsity game.

Chase County

JV girls 60,

McCook 32

The Chase County JV girls blasted McCook's JV 60-32 Thursday night.

Joanna Bryant and Meissner each scored 7 points for McCook. Palic scored 6, Shelby Woitaszewski 4, Tara Powell 3, Watkins 3 and Carfield 2.

Nichole Dickey led the Longhorns with 13 points.

"We played hard but did not execute very well on the offensive or defensive end of the court," Schaeffer said. "We need to do a better job of pressuring the ball and getting into defensive transition.

"Offensively we need to do a better job of squaring up to the basket and seeing our posts, and getting a good shot. We will improve but we have to do it quickly because we have a tough game on Saturday night.